Plier type friction-cap remover



1951 B. H. STEWART PLIER TYPE FRICTION-CAP REMOVER .2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed F'eb. 10, 1947 INVENTOR. 12w Bertram Hfilewari ATTORNEYS Oct. 9, 1951 STEWART 2,570,881

PLIER TYPE FRICTION-CAP REMOVER Filed Feb. 10, 1947 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Bertram H BY ATTORNEY5 Patented Oct. 9, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PLIER TYPE FRICTION-CAP REMOVER Bertram H. Stewart, New York, N. Y.

Application February 10, 1947, Serial No. 727,711

1 Claim. 1

My invention relates to a new and improved cap-removing device which is useful for removing closure caps from jars and bottles.

The improved device makes it possible to remove the cap without substantially distorting or mutilating said cap so that said cap can be replaced upon the jar or bottle for sealing the same. I

Many jars have lateral outer beads at their rims, in addition to lateral outer shoulders below said beads. According to my invention, I provide a device which has an inner arm which is pivoted to an outer arm, and I locate the capremoving tip of the inner arm, longitudinally rearwardly of the cap-removing tip of the outer arm, so that when either of said arms is actuated to force its tip upwardly against the cap, said upwardly moved tip will not strike said bead.

Another object of my invention is to provide a device in which the inner arm may be held either vertically above or vertically below the outer arm of the device, when the device is used.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my co-pending application Serial No. 635,248, filed December 15, 1945, now abandoned.

Other objects and advantages of my invention are disclosed in the annexed description and. drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment thereof.

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the inner arm of the device.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the outer arm of the device.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the assembled device, showing the inner arm or lever of the device in normal relation relative to the outer arm of the device.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of the assembled device, showing the inner arm turned away from its position of Fig. 3, thus illustrating the operation of the device in removing the closure cap.

Fig. 5 is a section view on the line 55 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a partial top plan view of the shank of the outer arm.

Fig. 7 is a partial top plan view of the device along the lines 'I1 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the inner arm of the device.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the outer arm of the device.

The device comprises an outer arm H and an inner arm I0, which have respective shanks I2a and I2. Each said am is made by stamping an initial blank of flat metal into shape. The shank I2 of the inner arm. I8 is transversely arched, so that the top face thereof which is shown in Fig. 8, is transversely convex and its bottom face is transversely concave. The metal of the blank is bent transversely inwardly to form a front flangehead I! which consists of two longitudinal flanges whose inner faces abut each other. These flanges are connected by a top jaw-web, and said flanges extend in front of said jaw-web. This front head I! is joined to the shank I2 by means of a tapered neck I141. The flange-tips I8 of the flanges of the head I! have upper surfaces I6 whose front portions are concave and whose rear portions are convex. The lower surfaces of the tips I8 have straight longitudinal walls I5, and said walls I5 are offset vertically relative to the bottom flange-stop-walls I5a.

The drawings are substantially to scale and reference is made thereto for further disclosure.

A blade spring 2 is fixed at 20a to the shank I2.

The shank I2a of the outer arm or'lever II is flat and it is provided with a cutout 22 so that said flat shank [2a can be used as an ordinary cap remover. As shown in Fig. 9, said outer arm II is provided with a front jaw-head which consists of two parallel jaws I3 which are formed by stamping the respective flat metal blank into shape. Said jaws I3 have respective tips I4 which are provided with top walls I6 which have the same shape as the walls I6. Said tips I4 have respective longitudinal bottom walls I5 which are offset relative to the front end wall 2| of the jaw-web which connects jaws I3.

The flange-head I1 and the jaws I3 are provided with respective openings I8a and I3a so that the inner and outer arms I0 and II can be pivotally assembled at their front heads by means of a pivot pin I9 which extends through the alined openings Ita and I3a.

When the device is thus assembled, and the arms are in the normal position of Fig. 3, the free end of the blade spring 2 abuts the shank I2a as shown in Fig. 3, so that the flange-stopwalls I50. of the inner arm ID then abut the bottom connecting jaw-web of the jaws I3.

The front end-walls of the inner flange-tips I8 are spaced slightly rearwardly and longitudinally from the front end-walls of the outer jawtips I4 when the parts are in the normal position of Fig. 3. This is illustrated in Fig. 7. When the parts are in such relative normal position of Fig. 3, the front end-walls of flangetips I8 may be spaced 3 5 of an inch rearwardly of the front end-walls of the jaw-tips I4. This longitudinal spacing between the front end-walls of the jaw-tips l4 and the front end-walls of the flange-tips l4 makes it possible to use the device as a cap remover, when the device is applied to the bottle or jar in the position of Fig. 3, or in the reverse position in which the outer arm 1 l is located vertically above the inner arm l0. In either position, when the shanks l2 and l2a are forced towards each other as illustrated in Fig. 4, the tips of the upper member effectively clear the bead'which is located at the rim of the jar or bottle.

In order to use the device in the manner shown in Fig. 4, the tips [4 and E8 of the arms are inserted between the bottom flange of the cap and the shoulder which is provided in the jar or bottle below the bottom edge of the cap, so that the respective bottom walls i5 and i5 abut said shoulder. The shanks l2 and 12a are then moved towards each other against the force of the spring 20, thus lifting the skirt of the cap. This is done one or more times until the cap can be. easily removed.

The width of the flange-head I! is approximately g of an inch.

distorting it, so that the cap can be easily replaced as an effective sealing device.

By .means of the disclosed construction, the

device can be easily manufactured and assembled atlow cost.

As. shownin. Fig. 3, the pivot pin I9 is located above theconcave top walls of the tips Hi and i8.

When the device is reversed, so that the outer arm H is located vertically above the inner arm l0, said pivot pin I9 is below said concave walls. This position of the pivot pin 19 makes it possible to use the device either in the position of Fig. 3 or in the reverse position in which the outer arm II is located vertically above the inner arm l0.

For convenience, the device is defined in the claim withreference to its position of Fig. 3.

I have described a preferred embodiment of my invention, but numerous changes and omissions and substitutions can be made Without departing from its scope.

I claim:

A jar and bottle cap remover, comprising a pair of upper and lower pivotally connected members, each including a jaw portion at one end and a handle portion at the opposite end, the pivot intermediate said members being situated between their respective jaw and handle portions, a leaf-spring on one of said handle portions positioned "to bear against the other cf said handle portions to urge the two handle portions apart and thereby to urge the two jaw portions together, said jaw portions being adapted to be spread apart by forcing the two handle portions toward each other against the action of the spring, the jaw portion of the lower pivotally connected member being relatively longer than the jaw portion of the upper pivotally connected member, said lower jaw portion being bifurcated to receive the upper jaw portion between its two parts.

BER'I'RAM H. STEWART.

REFERENCES siren The following references are of record in.the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Num -er Name Date D. 145,647 Stewart -Sept. 21, 1946 326,909 Kricker Sept. 22, 1885 1,380,508 Wilson June 7, 1921 2,059,736 Manarik Nov. 3, 1936 2,473,870 Eastman June 2.1, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 435,830 Germany Oct. 20, 1926 274,662 Italy May 28, 1930 

